


kitchen magic

by noljagolcha (daelighthwi)



Category: Golden Child (Korea Band)
Genre: Gen, anyway bongbeom dont even make an appearance im sorry they dont say a thing, daeyeol is just daeyeol, jaeseok is a calm mother, so a family cooking au, sungyoon is a sassy mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daelighthwi/pseuds/noljagolcha
Summary: it's always a mess getting ready for school and Jaeseok supposes he probably should be used to it by now. but he never really is.





	kitchen magic

**Author's Note:**

> ehe leave comments below please feedback or a hi whichever you'd prefer

Before his alarm beeps, at 3:59 am everyday, Jaeseok rolls over in his bed and opens his eyes.

It's always a mess getting the kids ready for school and Jaeseok supposes he probably should be used to it by now.

But he never really is.

He used to dream of being a chef (when he was about 5 or 6 years old, so a long time ago), but he'd pushed that aside in favour of chasing his dream of the spotlight and the stage, beckoning him nearer and drawing him close with its bright lights and high energy.

However, when he actually became an idol, he'd never have expected to miraculously find a way to be a chef at the same time, successfully fulfilling both dreams at the same time. Or, well, that's what he thought at first. Until his path to debut got longer and longer and trainees who seemed eons younger than him with baby fat still clinging to their cheeks (It's been a while, but Jaehyun hasn't lost his and Jaeseok's starting to think it's just part of him), then he'd realised that being the household chef wasn't as fun as he thought it would be.

That brings him to his current predicament: bent over the frying pan, hurriedly frying beef as Sungyoon squawks in the background about milk and Daeyeol busies himself preparing toast. "Where is Jangjun?" He whisper-yells over his shoulder, eyes not straying from the frying beef strips even for a second as he hurriedly shakes some pepper onto it to season it. "Isn't he supposed to be preparing the rice?"

Sungyoon at least halts for a moment in the midst of hunting for the milk to inform Jaeseok (a little huffily) that Jangjun is currently taking out the trash like a good son. His exact words. "At least he's doing something useful."

Jaeseok turns off the stove and transfers the cooked beef onto a plate by the side. The smell is making his stomach grumble but knowing that he cannot touch even a single piece or risk certain death makes him slightly annoyed. He made the beef. Why can't he eat it. He's entitled to.

"Jangjun isn't even your biological son," Jaeseok says, finally turning to glare at Sungyoon for the first time that morning, "And I'm being plenty helpful. I just made the beef."

"Not you," Sungyoon snaps, delicately lowering a milk carton from the wobbly stack he's managed to hold in his arms into each open lunchbox on the table, "I'm talking about the nincompoop who is burning his 5th slice of toast this morning. The kids can't eat that, hyung."

"I'm sorry the technology refuses to cooperate with me," Daeyeol stresses, waving a piece of blackened toast around, spraying crumbs everywhere. Jaeseok watches it move with apprehension, and maybe a little bit of disgust. He pities whoever will eat that (probably him, if he gets hungry enough. He has a horrible feeling that he will, sometime later in the day).

"I'm back!" Jangjun announces his arrival as he swings open the door, bringing in with him a gust of cold wind and the clean scent of fresh snow. "It's a cold day today!"

"Have you started on the rice?" Jaeseok asks, turning his attention to the lettuce he's begun to wash. "We've got to get the younger one's lunchboxes ready."

"I put it in the rice cooker," Jangjun replies cheerfully, "It should be done soon." Jaeseok takes a quick look at the clock. It's going to be 5am soon and they've got to pack all of their lunches and get breakfast out on the table, which is quickly proving to be a near-impossible feat since Daeyeol keeps burning the toast. He's going to have to take over soon.

"I'm going to start packing the lunchboxes," Sungyoon says hurriedly as he yanks on a pair of latex gloves. "Someone go shake Youngtaek awake so that he can wake the rest of the kids up. It's his turn today."

Jaeseok and Jangjun turn to look at each other and reach a silent agreement. "Daeyeol," Jangjun begins, completely leaving out the honorific because he simply does not care, "Go wake Youngtaek up. We'll try to salvage your-" Jangjun gestures vaguely to the pile of blackened toast on the table beside the toaster, "-charcoal."

Daeyeol sniffs and turns his nose up at them, looking slightly wounded at the jab at his cooking abilities (really, he deserves it. It's just toast. Even Jaeseok can do that) but he goes to wake Youngtaek up anyway.

"Jangjun! Check on the rice!" Sungyoon interrupts worriedly as he snatches the lettuce from Jaeseok's hands and begins to pull it apart, setting some leaves of the lettuce into each lunchbox. Jangjun happily does as he's told and soon Jaeseok is hit in the face with a blast of warm humid air coming from the cooked rice. He scrunches up his face in displeasure but moves away quietly, bringing his vegetables with him.

It's blessedly quiet for the next few moments, each of them working on their own component in silence even as Daeyeol sidles back into the kitchen to help with the dishes.

Until, that is, the clock hits 5am. The annoyingly highpitched sound of Bomin’s alarm resounds through the house.

Suddenly, the kitchen is thrown into chaos as people start yelling at the top of their voices regardless of the younger ones sleeping in the bedrooms not too far away. They have to wake up soon anyway.

"Where is that piece of beef?!" Sungyoon yells, finally losing it. “Bomin’s lunchbox is missing one! He needs to get his nutrition!”

Jaeseok’s head whips round to the frying pan. There it is, sitting calmly in the centre of the metal utensil. He swoops in to save it before Daeyeol can wash it and ruin Sungyoon’s (and Bomin’s) mood for the day.

“It’s here,” He says, holding out the piece of beef delicately. Sungyoon snatches it, tucks it into Bomin’s lunchbox and heaves a giant sigh of relief.

“That’s done with,” He says, much quieter than before, and sinks into a chair at the table. “We’re done with the lunchboxes.” Then, as Daeyeol’s voice reaches his ears, he sits up ramrod straight. “The toast!”

Jaeseok spies the white bread just out of Sungyoon’s reach and swoops in to grab it just as a cheerful ding sounds. Jangjun is bent over at the waist, pulling warm, perfectly browned toast out of the oven. “It’s done! Youngtaek, how’s the bacon?”

Wordlessly, Youngtaek holds up a thumbs up as he skilfully dishes three packets worth of cooked bacon onto eleven plates with one hand.

Even in this chaos, Jaeseok’s mind is clear. There is clearly something he’s missing. Daeyeol is leaning against the fridge, eating out of a yoghurt carton and Jaeseok squints at him.

Then, as Daeyeol opens the fridge again to get water, Jaeseok spies the eggs sitting in a neat row. That’s it! “Daeyeol hyung!” He shouts, pointing at him. Daeyeol startles, spilling water everywhere.

Jaeseok ignores Sungyoon’s exasperated oh my god, hyung! in the background and continues, “Toss me the eggs!”

Daeyeol squints at him, picks up an egg and prepares himself to lob it at Jaeseok. It’s then that he decides its probably a bad idea and hurries over before Daeyeol can actually throw the eggs.

Deftly, he cracks them open and fries them into one huge omelette. The kids will be awake anytime soon- there is simply no time to cook them separately.

Daeyeol watches on in amazement. “How you do it without getting bits of eggshells in the egg itself is a mystery to me,” he whispers.

“Well, maybe if you cracked the egg instead of pressing it so hard that it explodes in your palm you might be able to leave the eggshells out.” Jangjun says snippily, “But you do you. I won’t tell you how to cook.”

Just as Jaeseok switches the flames off and serves the steaming hot omelettes on the table, the younger ones begin to file in, all sleepy-eyed and mussed hair.

Donghyun, as usual, has forgone the school uniform and has thrown on an oversized hoodie. For fashion, Jaeseok thinks. “Hyung?” Donghyun asks, peering up at him with bleary eyes. He yawns. “Next time, could you wake me up earlier? I want to try helping with the cooking.”

Jaeseok blinks. “Sure,” he says, “I’ll wake you up. I can teach you if you like.”

Donghyun nods. “Thank you, hyung, for working hard to prepare breakfast for us and our lunchboxes. You too Sungyoon hyung, and Jangjun hyung. And maybe Daeyeol hyung.”

Sungyoon doesn’t respond. He’s already fallen asleep in his food, tuckered out from all the anxiety way too early in the morning. Daeyeol shushes them all. “I’ll go bring him back to bed. Jangjun will walk y’all to the train station today, okay?”

All five boys nod, including Bomin, who looks a little less grumpy this morning. Maybe he has something to look forward to in school.

“Stay safe in school and pay attention in classes.” Jaeseok advises, after they’ve finished eating and he’s cleared up the dishes. They stand as one big crowd by the doorway, like every other morning before this one, and say their goodbyes. “I’ll see you all in the afternoon after school.”

Joochan smiles brightly at him. “Practice well today hyung, when we’re not here. We’ll see you soon and don’t worry about us.”

With that, they all gather into a group hug until Seungmin starts to complain loudly about Jangjun poking him incessantly in the side and the neighbours start to voice out their disapproval. That’s their cue to go.

Jaeseok waves goodbye as they cram themselves into a tiny elevator and he stays there and doesn’t leave until the doors slide shut.

When he’s sure that they’re gone, he sighs and drags himself back to their dormitory. Once the adrenaline rush in the morning to send the younger ones off to school has worn off, he’s left feeling tired and drained.

He winces at the piles of dirty dishes that he’ll have to do, but, nonetheless, he heads straight to bed. He thinks he’s earned this well-deserved nap.

And he’s going to enjoy it while he can, before his responsibilities come knocking on his door again. 


End file.
